The Promise
by Lit3raryP3rsist3rs
Summary: Ruby made a promise to Belle when they were young. Circumstances have torn them apart, young love has given way to heart break. Ruby is not the same person she used to be. Life has been cruel, and it has made her cynical and weary. And Belle? Belle is still clinging to that childhood dream, still holding out for that promise. RedBeauty with a healthy dose of SwanQueen.


**_Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. _**

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><p><strong><em>The only promise I can make you is that my promise is a lie.<em>**

**_I promise you I will hurt you..._**

* * *

><p>'<em>What's going on…? Where am I…? What's happening?'<em>

_They were in bed together, all wrapped up in each other's arms. She couldn't tell where one body ended and the other began; so wrapped up, limbs tangled, skin touching. Hands clinging. _

_A whisper. A sigh. A laugh. Airy and light. Like wind-chimes dancing on a gentle, summer morning breeze. "I love you." _

_A confession. Sweet, sweet words professed under cover of darkness. _

"_I love you, too."_

_They shared a kiss. _

_It was bliss. Euphoria. Nirvana. Perfection. _

_Then the door serving as a barrier between them and the outside world shattered, exploded into a million pieces. _

_She screamed, jerking out of her lover's embrace. A man stood at the door, his silhouette hovering over them like a dark cloud._

"_What have you done?!" He screamed. "Monster!"_

_She gawked. Stunned. Shock encompassed every part of her being. They'd been caught. Caught red-handed. Like thieves. Like criminals. _

_Something strange caught her eye. She glanced at the body length mirror hanging on the wall beside the door, and gasped. _

_The reflection that stared back at her wasn't her own. The reflection belonged to a wolf. _

_Her blood turned into ice. _

"_Wh—what's happening?" She stuttered, unable to move. _

_That wasn't a problem for long. The old man stomped over, grabbed her roughly, and tore her away. _

"_Red!"_

_Ruby stumbled along dumbly, her mind incapable of catching up with the situation. One second she was holding Belle, touching her, kissing her. The next, Spencer threw her down harshly on his front yard, exposed for all the world to see her shame. _

_He was angry. So angry, Ruby feared he would hit her. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, his face turned an impossible shade of red as her sneered at her, nostrils flaring like a bull about to charge. _

"_You filthy, filthy whore! You've tainted my granddaughter!" He spat. _

_Ruby flinched, revolted by the spittle that landed on her face. She maneuvered a shaky hand up to her face to wipe it away. "I'm not!" She screamed, pleading. "I love her!"_

_Spencer reeled. "You can't love her, you animal!"_

_The ground shattered beneath her feet. The front yard of Belle's house melted away. _

_The next thing she knew, she was running. Padding on all fours as she tore through the familiar streets of Storybrooke with an urgency that could only come from experiencing a life-threatening situation. The life in question was her own. She didn't know how she knew. Not until they cornered her. Not until she saw the axes and pitchforks and torches and Spencer French at the forefront. _

"_The wolf!" Spencer cried, stabbing an accusing finger in her direction. "It has tainted poor Belle!"_

_The angry mob roared, and in unison, took a step forward. Rage radiated from them like heat waves off of pavement. Hate darkened their eyes; inky, black orbs shone in the torchlight. Why were they so angry? She'd done nothing to deserve this. _

_Ruby whimpered and took an involuntary step back. She effectively backed herself into a corner with nowhere to go but forward—straight into the hands of the bloodthirsty mob. Her heart thump-thumped chaotically in her chest, like a prisoner pounding against the walls of a cell, desperate to escape. A low growl rumbled its way up her chest. Half anger, half fear. She bore her fangs. The crowd gasped._

_Spencer French stepped forward, the torch raised high above his head casting eerie shadows on his face. _

"_You've corrupted my poor sweet Belle!"_

_Ruby thrashed her head from side to side. She did no such thing. She snarled at Spencer. _

_Spencer sneered, his thin lips curled in disgust. He addressed the crowd. "This… thing is unnatural! We mustn't allow it to destroy our town, our homes, our children! It doesn't belong here! It is our responsibility to rid Storybrooke of the abomination!"_

_The crowd cheered, hundreds of voices melding together to form one solitary, earth-shattering roar. _

_Ruby shied away from the sound, ears pinned against her head. There was nowhere left to run. The one person who could put an end to all this was nowhere to been seen._

'_Belle! Belle can tell them! I didn't corrupt her! I love her! She loves me!'_

_Spencer fixed his gaze on the cowering wolf trapped between a chain link fence and his posse. He smiled grimly. "Don't worry…" He reached behind his back and produced a revolver. "I'll make it quick."_

_Ruby squeezed her eyes shut. She waited. Waited for the blast of the gun to blow her away._

"_Look at me." He ordered. _

_Ruby did. She stared straight into his soul. 'I want you to look into my eyes. I want you to see the person you're about to kill.' She tilted her head, lifting her chin defiantly._

"_I love her." She declared. _

_Spencer laughed. "Bitch." _

_He pulled the trigger._

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><p>"Shit!"<p>

Ruby Lucas jolted upright, disturbed from what had been a pleasant night's rest by the odd but familiar nightmare. It took her a minute to gather hear bearing, for her mind to discern reality from fantasy. The problem was even fully conscious, Ruby sometimes had trouble telling them apart.

She glanced at the glowing, red digital numbers of the clock on the night stand. 3:45AM. She groaned pitifully and dropped her head into her hands.

When was the last time she had that nightmare? Five, six years ago? It was always the same. She was a werewolf, had accidentally bitten and turned Belle, and Belle's grandfather, Spencer French, upon finding out, assembled the townspeople into a good old fashioned pitchfork and torchlight kind of mob to hunt her down.

She always woke up right when Spencer shot her.

Ruby took a deep breath then expelled it as a sigh. Her heart still beat too fast, sweat rolled down her back and made her hair, which had come loose from its ponytail during the nightmare induced thrashing, stick to her face.

"Fuck…"

She hated the fact that even after a six year absence, that nightmare still possessed such power over her.

_Probably because it's not a nightmare. Not completely._

The fact was, 10 years ago she made the mistake of kissing her best friend, Belle French. Spencer French walked in on them. At the time, he was the pastor at the local Presbyterian Church. You'd think she'd set fire to a bible. He dragged her out of the house, threw her on the street, and proceeded to curse her to high hell in front of pretty much everyone in Storybrooke…

Ruby had always been considered strange and a bit of an outcast by the townspeople. It was all thanks to her mother, Anita, who had her out of wedlock. The people of Storybrooke were nothing if not traditional and religiously fanatic. They hadn't treated the teenage girl well before, but after the whole ordeal with Belle, things got really bad for her.

The few friends she had were prohibited to talk to her. People made faces at her wherever she went. The worst of it came when one night, while walking home from her job at her granny's dinner, Gaston LeGume, local jock and self-appointed high school royalty, ran her off the road with his truck while shouting "Dyke!" out the window.

She wasn't hurt too bad. Just a rolled ankle and few bumps and scratches.

The trouble came when her mother tried to press charges, and the Sheriff, who happened to be Spencer's old hunting buddy, disregarded the entire ordeal with a wave of his hands. They were "Just kids having fun," he'd said.

A week later her mother had all their things packed. She'd been able to handle the town's scorn, but she would not allow her daughter to suffer the same fate. Granny had not been able to spare Anita the pain of being the town scourge. But she could spare Ruby.

They moved away to Boston, Massachusetts, and hadn't returned to Storybrooke since.

Anita did well for herself in Boston. With a new town and a new life, she easily overcame what thirty five years of oppression had done to her. It wasn't long before she found herself a fantastic job as a middle school guidance counselor, made new friends, met a handsome, kind man named August, and soon married.

Ruby didn't do so bad herself.

At first it was a difficult transition for the then 14 year old, but soon enough the freedom and open-mindedness of city life liberated her. She made new friends, excelled in her schoolwork, and even dated a few cute guys throughout her high school career.

Of course, that never quite worked out. The dating, that is. The boys she dated were handsome, funny, smart, and they cared for her, but she never quite felt for them the same way. They lacked the right shade of eye color; a blue so bright it made the stars look bleak in comparison. They lacked the right shade of hair color; a deep, reddish brown that reminded her of autumn. They never quite had the right accent. They weren't quirky, timid but enthusiastic. They didn't have an almost unhealthy obsession with books…

It was during junior year, when she met and dated Peter, a boy so precious he might have been an angel, that Ruby realized she would never find a man to love. If she couldn't fall for someone as perfect and amazing as Peter, maybe it just wasn't meant to happen.

She graduated high school, enrolled at Boston University, and three and a half years later she walked out with a BA in Psychology. She was currently working on a Master's degree, but things were progressing slowly; she had her own place now, which meant there were bills to pay, which in turn meant getting a job. She now worked five days out of the week as a mixologist at a night club. The work wasn't exactly in her line of field, but it paid the bills and it wasn't too bad. For now. She was taking 12 hours this semester, just enough to remind herself that she was still a student, but not so many so as to overwhelm her. There was also the small manner of her girlfriend. Being in a relationship could be time consuming.

…Ruby shoved the hair out of her face then glanced at her lover. Silky, dark locks cascaded down the feminine back, spilled over a milky shoulder, and created a sort of curtain shielding the girl's face from Ruby's prying eyes. But she knew she was awake. Aurora never slept through one of Ruby's nightmares.

Aurora Phillips. 23. Psychology student. Sweet. Caring. Beautiful. Wicked smart. A total heart-throb. They'd met by chance at the Café where she worked as an undergrad. Ruby had gone to the other side of town to meet up with her mother and August for a late, light dinner, but they'd never made it. A freak snow storm had stranded them a few blocks away from their home. Ruby was trapped along with two other customers and three employees. One of which had been Aurora.

They didn't hit it off at first. Ruby had been in a bad mood to begin with. But as the night wore on and the others fell asleep, she was incapable of giving in to her exhaustion.

An hour later, Ruby was privy to the fact that she was not the only one left awake. Aurora had been silent the entire night, pacing back and forth behind the counter. Ruby didn't thought much of her then, but the girl's restlessness eventually lead her to try and pacific her.

Within a few hours, they were talking like regular old friends. Turns out, Aurora was very easy to get along with. Especially when she started dishing out free cappuccinos and bagels.

By the end of the night they'd exchanged numbers and made promises to hang out sometime. Under more preferable circumstances.

Everything after that was history.

Aurora was everything Ruby wasn't. Extroverted, trusting, highly enthusiastic. Confident. Slowly but surely she managed to help her heal, and Ruby would forever be indebted to her. It wasn't easy opening up after the kind of life she'd lived, but Aurora had shown her that she could trust again, showed her that she could open up without getting hurt. Not everyone out there was an asshole…

Aurora's light grey eyes regarded her intently, soft but intense. "Bad dream?"

Ruby snorted, dropping her head back into her hands. There was still a slight tremble to them. It pissed her off. "More like bad memories." She muttered darkly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Ruby tensed. "There's nothing to talk about. It's the same old shit, just another day."

Aurora frowned. Ruby was clamping up. That only happened when she thought about her less than stellar past. Or rather, about a certain someone in her past. She rolled onto her side, reached out a tentative hand, and set it on Ruby's bare shoulder. The brunette stiffened up for a moment, then relaxed into her touch.

"What was it this time?" She inquired softly.

Ruby drew a deep breath. She could already feel a lump forming in her throat and she hadn't even begun to talk about it. _That's fucked up, _she thought with a self-depreciating laugh. "Did I ever tell you about the nightmare I started having after Belle's grandfather caught us kissing?"

Aurora shook her head. She was privy to some but not all aspects of her girlfriend's painful past.

"In this nightmare, I wake up to find that I've turned into a werewolf after Belle and I were… intimate with each other. I don't really get the chance to process what's happening because her grandfather walks in and drags me out kicking and screaming. Soon the dream changes. One second I'm in Belle's room, and the next I'm being chased through main-street by a mob that Spencer French put together."

She paused, attempting to gather her thoughts before continuing. "I get cornered in some alley, and, I don't know. I'm terrified. I freeze up. Spencer goes on and on about how I tainted Belle. Then he shoots me… I know what it means. The symbolism is not lost on me. My being a werewolf is an obvious reference to being a lesbian. When I 'taint' Belle it means Spencer thinks I've turned her into one, too."

Aurora scoffed. "You can't 'turn' someone into a lesbian."

Ruby flashed the girl a wry smile. Aurora was very passionate about all matters of the heart. The poor girl wanted to be a marriage counselor for heaven's sake! Incidentally, it was one of the things that made her so attractive; her total lack of fear, that willingness to take a stand. She was a regular revolutionary.

"In Spencer land you can. The people of Storybrooke are very old school—"

"—You mean ignorant." Aurora muttered angrily.

"—They're very religious. They live strictly by the book. They don't like it when people try to change things. My mom left home when she was 17 and ended up getting pregnant with me. She went back, and of course Granny took her in, but the townspeople weren't too happy about it. They don't take kindly to immoral people. So pretty much everyone in town gave my mother shit. Granny did her best to raise me prime and proper, but I guess I take after mom."

By now Aurora was sitting up, listening intently, and leaning forward in that way people do when they're quite caught up in a story.

When she met Ruby, the girl was all sass and attitude on the outside, but one look into her eyes, and she'd known there was so much more to the hard exterior. It took a long time, and a lot of dedication and patience to get her to open up. When she finally did, well, Ruby made a lot more sense to her.

She scooted over on the bed, wrapped her arm around Ruby's shoulders, and pulled the brunette's head to her breast. Her fingers absently caressed her soft skin, bringing a measure of comfort to both of them.

"I'm glad you took after your mother. She's a nice lady."

Ruby smiled weakly. "Me, too. She's crazy as hell, but she's the strongest woman I know."

"So why do you think you had the nightmare now?"

About a month after she moved out into her own apartment, her mother called saying Granny had a stroke, and that she was heading to Storybrooke to check on her. A million different emotions swirled inside of her. Anita swore that she would never set foot in that God-awful town again.

_But this is Granny we're talking about. Granny raised you. She loved you so much._

"Granny had a stroke a few weeks back." Aurora gasped. Ruby pacified her girlfriend with a chaste kiss to the cheek. "She's okay. Mom went back to help her, but she has to come home eventually. The doctors said it was stress that caused it. Mom keeps trying to convince Granny to come live with her, but that woman is more stubborn than a mule… Mom—"Ruby licked her lips. Her mouth had gone dry. "Mom wants me to go stay with her for a few weeks. Help her get back up and running."

Several minutes passed. All kinds of crazy thoughts whirled through Ruby's head. This couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time. She was finally settling into her life; she had a decent paying job, a nice apartment, she was going to graduate school, and she'd finally broken out of her shell enough to find herself a lovely girlfriend. She was content. Things were going great.

And now this.

Her mother wanted her to go back inside the lion's den.

"It's been, what, more than ten years?" Aurora asked. She was quick on the draw- immediately knew the kind of things her girlfriend must be thinking. Ruby liked jumping to the worst case scenario. "I'm sure everyone's forgotten about that minor incident. I know people can hold grudges but there's just no way they can still be mad at you. For one, they had no right to be mad in the first place. You were just a kid."

Ruby narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend. "Are you seriously trying to convince me to go back to the place I consider to be hell on earth?"

Aurora leaned down and kissed her. It was sweet, gentle. Reassuring. "You always speak so fondly of your granny. Could you forgive yourself if you don't go help her?"

Ruby chewed the inside of her cheek, eyes darting to her lap where her hands sat wringing each other. "No…" She said slowly. "But just the mere mention of that place gives me nightmares, Rora, just imagine what being there will do to me."

"You're not a little kid anymore, sweetie," Aurora gently urged her, "You're a strong, beautiful, crazy smart young woman with a world of possibilities ahead of her. You can go back there with your head held high. You've nothing to be ashamed of, and every reason to be proud of yourself. Those people can't take away everything that you've accomplished. Remember that. You have what it takes to face them."

Ruby wanted to believe her. Goodness, did she want to believe her!

But how could she? Aurora was well intentioned, but the girl simply didn't know just how bad things had gotten. She hadn't been there. She didn't know what it was like to have an entire town hate you. The New York native had always been very well liked in her community. She didn't know what it was like to have the one person you loved more than anything in the world, the one person you trusted above all others, turn their back on you. That kind of betrayal was not easily forgotten. That kind of pain was not easily overcome.

"I don't know… Maybe. I still have to think about it. I can't just up and drop school and work."

Aurora smiled encouragingly. "I'll talk to Mulan. Her dad owns the club you work at it. I'm sure she can convince him to hold on to your job for you. As for school, well, summer session is almost over."

"Man, you really want me to go don't you?"

Aurora shrugged. "I just think you need some closure, babe. Or maybe I just want everyone to see what they missed out on. Imagine the looks on their faces when they find out how far you've come."

"Imagine the looks on their faces when I walk into town with my hot girlfriend hanging off of my arm."

Aurora cocked her head to the side, "You want me to go with you?"

Ruby had the good sense to look sheepish. She didn't mean to presume. "I mean, if you don't mind. I've always wanted you to meet Granny. And, well, having you there to take my mind off of less pleasant things won't hurt, either. I'll go on ahead of course, scope things out. What do you say?"

Aurora's response was a kiss that blew her away.

Ruby grinned. Things got hot and heavy pretty fast. It was easy to forget about past pains and regrets when she was wrapped up in the safety of her girlfriend's loving embrace. For tonight, she allowed herself to live in the moment. It wasn't something that came easy to her. Most of the time, she found herself living in the past; replaying and reliving bitter memories that left a stain on her soul no amount of pep talk could remove.

She could only hope Aurora was right. She hoped the people of Storybrooke had long forgotten their contempt for the bad egg who'd corrupted the most beloved, innocent girl in town.

* * *

><p>Two weeks later, Ruby found herself standing in the middle of Granny's Bed and Breakfast, too stunned by the emotions the place of her childhood memories invoked. It was as if nothing had changed in the ten years since she'd been gone. She swore that any moment now her child self would come barreling out of the kitchen with an equally enthusiastic Belle at her heels, both of them laughing as if there weren't a care in the world.<p>

The two girls had often made their own personal playground out of Granny's diner, and although the kindly old lady would grumble and complain about their "rough-housing inside her eating establishment," she would look on them fondly, with a tender, loving smile on her face…

Ruby shook her head. _Not even five minutes and it's already memory lane. _

There weren't too many people at the diner this late in the evening. Just a few stragglers here and there. They were mostly old men spread out through random booths. Every one of them turned their heads to look at her as she pushed past the door, but she swallowed the lump in her throat and paid them no mind. What sucked is that she recognized every last one of them, but not one had the decency to greet her.

_Must be the clothes_.

She knew she must already be making a hell of an impression on the townspeople with her wild, purposely messy hair, provocative make- up, and positively immodest attire of a vivid red button down, obnoxiously tight leather skinny leggings, and down-right outrageously high heels. Several leather bangles and silver trinkets on her wrists, and a silver wolf on a titanium necklace accessorized her outfit.

Wide, scandalized eyes regarded her coldly from a corner of the diner, and Ruby recognized the old, weathered face with a sensation akin to a blow to the gut.

_I would bump into him already._

She made it a point to ignore Spencer French as she moved to the counter and rang the bell. She could feel the old man's icy glare burning a hole in the back of her head. For a moment she imagined she was 14 years old again, walking up to Belle's house and ringing the doorbell. Spencer would answer the door, scowl at her, and tell her to go away before slamming it in her face. Moments later, Maurice French, Belle's father, would come out and apologize then send Belle out.

_I shouldn't have come here._

Ruby spent the better part of the two hour drive to Storybrooke reminiscing. The not so better part was spent dreading her arrival to her hometown. Aurora had called her several times, each time sweetly encouraging her. Her girlfriend's gentle reassurance had helped calm her, but that peace was fleeting, and now Ruby was stewing in a pool of anger and doubt.

Just when it was getting to be too much, and she was prepared to jump in her car and head back to Boston, a waitress stepped out from behind the kitchen door with a broad grin on her face that stopped Ruby in her tracks.

"Ariel?"

"Well, I'll be. Ruby Lucas is that you?"

Ruby blinked.

Ariel was not exactly what she might have called a friend. The redhead had been the popular "It" girl in school. Everyone wanted to be her friend. They all either hated her or wanted to be her. She was the one that was going to get out of little old Storybrooke, marry some NFL player, and live the dream. Ruby had been content just ignoring the eccentric girl when possible, but she was always polite when their paths crossed.

Seeing her now, wearing Granny's B&B uniform, with a belly the size of a beach ball, and looking far older than her 25 years, gave Ruby a grim kind of satisfaction.

_If anything, I already accomplished more than the Queen B._

A wry smirk lilted her lips. "Fancy seeing you here."

Ariel waddled over, that same disarming grin that made the boys swoon in high school plastered on her pretty face. "Look who's talking! You've been gone for, what, ten years? Now you just prance back into town? Where've you been?"

Ruby sat back down, folding her hands on the counter. This was strange. The hard glares and icy stares she'd been expecting. What she wasn't expecting was this decent, bordering on pleasant reception.

_From_ _Ariel of all people._

She bit the inside of her cheek, unsure of herself. Aurora's previous words came to mind. _You're not a little kid anymore. Be the confident woman you've become._

"I moved to Boston with my mom. I came back for a few days to help Granny."

Ariel nodded sagely. "Yeah, it's been kind of rough around here lately. A lot of people are leaving Storybrooke, setting out for higher pastures, and it's affecting business. Granny Lucas had to take a loan from Mr. Gold to keep this place afloat. She's not the only one. The Rabbit Hole shut down last month after—"Ariel paused, aqua eyes darting to the side. They widened slightly, then narrowed. Ruby raised a skeptical brow.

Ariel flashed her a strained smile when she looked back. "—you don't care about little old Storybrooke, why am I tell you all this?" She said with a forceful chuckle. "Listen, Ruby, if you managed to get out, stay out. There's nothing good here for anyone. There's nothing good for YOU. Just a bunch of has-beens and bitter old men who like to make other people miserable."

Ruby was surprised by the sincerity in Ariel's voice, by the frankness of her words. "I'm not planning on staying. I have a life in Boston."

Ariel nodded curtly. "… You, uh, know Spencer French is in here, don't you?" She asked quietly.

Ruby was aware, but the fact that Ariel pointed him out made her realize not all was forgotten. It had been too much to hope for. Of course the people of a town as small as Storybrooke wouldn't forget what had at the time been the most outrageous scandal. "I know." She rasped, shoving her hands into her pockets. Her palms were sweating.

Pity softened Ariel's eyes. "Listen, Ruby, what he did to you? Well, I just want you to know that not everyone agreed with it. It wasn't right, but no one wanted to say anything out loud. The Frenches are descendants of Storybrooke's founders and Spencer French has a lot of pull around here..." She shrugged. "Maybe it was for the best. You look very good. You must be doing well."

Ruby realized this was probably as close to an apology as she would get. "I am."

Ariel flashed her a weak smile. "I'll tell Granny you're here. Maybe we can grab lunch before you leave."

Ruby nodded. She watched Ariel go back into the kitchen, then sighed, dragging trembling fingers through her tousled hair. _That was… painful. _

She barely had a second to recover before the voice that had haunted her nightmares for most of her adolescence addressed her.

Ruby spun on the chair, bringing her face to face with Spencer French.

He looked the exact same as he had the last time she saw him. He was standing at the city limit sign with a triumphant sneer on his face, a quietly sobbing Belle at his side. _Same old Spencer. Bitter, pretentious, with a holier than thou glower_. He was dressed smartly in smoke gray slacks and a black trench coat. His lips were turned down in a scowl, his contempt for setting his eyes ablaze.

"I prayed I'd never see you again."

Ruby _almost_ flinched. No matter how much she'd prepared for this moment, she could never truly be 100 percent ready to face the man who figured so prominently into her tortured past. The old fanatic had a talent for words—he wielded them like a weapon. They cut right through her.

Despite his presence conjuring feelings of inferiority on her part, Ruby came here with a game plan. She'd planned to avoid the entire French family, Spencer more specifically, but if that wasn't possible—

_He always said I was the devil. Time to give him hell. _

She rolled her eyes, feigning indifference. "If wishes were horses, eh, Spencie?"

Spencer visibly bristled. Ruby bit her tongue to hold back a laugh. This time, she was going to give as good as she got.

"Spencer." He corrected with a growl. "I can see time has done nothing for your manners."

"I can see time has done nothing for the stick up your ass. If anything, I think it might be permanently attached. The prognosis is not good."

Oh, if looks could kill! Ruby smirked at the old man, his face rapidly reaching new shades of red.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you satisfied with corrupting my granddaughter, now you've come back to wreak havoc on our peaceful town once more? We don't need your kind here. Immoral. Loose—"

Ruby shot up to her feet. She'd had about as much as she could take. She got right up in Spencer's face, drawing satisfaction in the fact that she now towered over him. The height difference obviously made an impact on Spencer, too. He puffed up slightly.

"Come off it. Your precious granddaughter knew exactly what she was doing. I've come back to help Granny. I will be here a few weeks. I'd appreciate it if during that time you kept a fair distance from me. I'm not a scared little girl anymore, Mr. French, and I won't tolerate your obnoxious behavior. Just stay out of my way, and I'll be content to stay out of yours."

Spencer gaped, eyes peeled in shock. He obviously wasn't expecting Ruby to retaliate. He huffed, adjusting the lapels of his coat indignantly as he stared her down. Or tried to.

"Yes. You'd do well to stay out of my way." He glanced around the diner, shooting glares at whoever dare look their way. He screwed on what had to be the most insincere smile Ruby had even seen. "I'll make sure to inform the townspeople of your presence."

Ruby sniffed. "Are you done?"

Spencer strolled away. But it wasn't over. He always got the last word. "Don't bother looking for my granddaughter. She's happily married to Gaston LeGume and with child. She's finally managed to overcome the sickness you infected her with."

Ruby glared daggers at his back. "You sure like the sound of your own voice, don't you?"

Spencer waved a dismissive hand.

Only when she saw him cross the street and disappear around the corner of the adjacent building did she allow her façade to fall.

She inhaled deeply, and staggered into her seat at the counter. Her heart was beating so hard little spikes of pain shot through her chest. The encounter with Spencer was mentally and physically exhausting, but she'd survived. For the most part.

"Ruby, sweetheart?"

She perked up slightly at the sound of her grandmother's tender voice behind her. "Granny!" Her face split into a wide grin. She spun around.

_Well, fuck!_

It was Granny Lucas standing behind her alright.

Belle was there, too.

Ruby clenched her jaw, her hands tightening into white-knuckled fists. That initial joy she felt from seeing her long, lost friend was quickly overshadowed by white-hot rage.

And grief.

It was Belle. Gorgeous, stunning, sweet, sweet Belle. With the haunting blue eyes, the auburn hair that complimented her fair complexion so well. The laugh lines, the wrinkles in the corners of her eyes when she smiled. That damn tilt of her head. The deliciously lilting accent.

"Hello, Ruby…"

It was Belle. Beautiful, amazing Belle. As breath-taking and radiant as Ruby remembered her.

And she was pregnant.

Very, very pregnant.

* * *

><p><strong>TBC?<strong>

**It has been a while since I watched Once Upon A Time, but after reading the very limited amount of Red Beauty stories recently, I felt obligated to make my contribution to what I consider to be a seriously under-rated pairing. I'm no Charles Dickens, but I do hope I do right by you in terms of story-telling. I do ask that you please forgive any grammatical errors. I have no beta and my editing skills aren't all that great in the wee hours of the morning.**

**I do apologize for any and all derogatory terms I used and will probably use in the future. I in no way agree nor tolerate such obscene disregard for other peoples' feelings. I am just trying to tell a story. **

**Any thoughts? Questions? Comments? Bring on the love! Bring on the scorn! Please know that I am open to suggestions for future chapter content as I have nothing concrete yet. **

**The title belongs to the song "The Promise" by In This Moment, as well as the first two lines of text. Check them out, they're amazing. **


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